<p>I've just received my financial aid statement from Sonoma State University. My single mom makes less than $9,000 a year and Sonoma is only giving me $10,434 in grants. The total cost of attendance for me is $23,243. Is this typical for cal states and low income undergraduates?</p>
<p>And my excepted family contribution is 0. Any help would be appreciated.</p>
<p>Yes, it is typical. Did you qualify for CAL Grant and Federal Pell Grant? How about ACG Grant?</p>
<p>Adding up the grant aid, it looks like a full Pell and a Cal Grant A.</p>
<p>Unfortunately, none of the CSUs (or the UCs even) promise to meet need without loans. They don’t even promise to meet need with loans for that matter. Currently, you have enough grant aid to cover all of your systemwide fees, campus fees, estimated books/supplies, estimated transportation, and some of the estimated personal expenses. There is extreme flexibility in most of these areas on what you will actually spend.</p>
<p>All that’s really not being covered by grants is on campus housing and most of the estimated personal expenses. California state schools are good about ensuring at least the fees are covered, but the rest seems to be a game of chance. To me, it looks fairly decent considering that’s $10k-ish you don’t have to worry about and much of the other estimated expenses can be reduced. Even room and board can be cheaper than the estimation.</p>
<p>If you do have Cal Grant A, ask if you can switch to B (assuming you qualified for both) and if your fees would be covered by grant aid your frosh year. If they will, then that’s an extra $1,551 in grant aid. I worry that they gave you A, though, because they don’t want to or simply can’t cover the additional year of fees due to the latest round of painful cuts all California schools are suffering through.</p>
<p>Wait, so what’s better? CAL Grant A or CAL Grant B?</p>
<p>Cal Grant B is hands down better at a UC. The Blue&Gold Program guarantees that the shortfall the freshman year will be made up with grants.</p>
<p>At a CSU, it’s harder to determine which is better. Past packages I’ve seen seem to show that the amount will be made up the freshman year, but they do not have a program like the UCs do to guarantee this.</p>
<p>Can you elaborate on how CAL Grant B at a UC is better than CAL Grant A? At a CSU, why is it harder to tell which one is better? Do different CAL Grants give increasing amounts after every year?</p>
<p>NOTE: The following numbers are for a UC during the 2010-2011 academic year as these are the numbers I am the most familiar with off the top of my head.</p>
<p>Cal Grant A and B both give tuition/fee assistance. This tuition/fee assistance helps with systemwide fees at the CSUs and the UCs. This is worth: $10,302/year.</p>
<p>Cal Grant B also gives a living assistance amount. This amount is given directly to the student (not applied directly to any bills even if there is a balance) and is meant to help with books, personal expenses, etc. This is worth $1,551/year.</p>
<p>The catch with Cal Grant B is that the tuition/fee assistance does not officially kick in until the sophomore year. This makes it look like Cal Grant A offers more aid. And, technically from Cal Grant only, it does. However (and this is a big however), the tuition/fee assistance that is missing the freshman year is often made up by the campus. This is most clear with the UCs because of the Blue&Gold Program.</p>
<p>The Blue&Gold Program is nothing more than a promise that your systemwide fees will be met through a combination of grants and/or scholarships. If there is any shortfall, then a UC Fee Grant will be applied to make up the difference. The aid, however, can technically come from any source. Blue&Gold considers itself met even with Cal Grant monies.</p>
<p>The reason it is harder with the CSUs is because they lack a program similar to Blue&Gold. None of the UCs or CSUs promise to meet need (let alone meet need without loans). The only promise that exists is the Blue&Gold (UC exclusive) that promises systemwide fees will be met through grants/scholarships (no loans) if you qualify. This lack of a definite, in writing promise causes some issues in determining which is the better Cal Grant for a freshman.</p>
<p>If the CSU will not make up the tuition/fee assistance amount the freshman year, then the student would technically receive less aid if they had Cal Grant B. However, it seems to me that at least the UCs are guilty of choosing A over B because it costs them less money. The Financial Aid Office is supposed to choose the one that is most beneficial to the student. There is no reason any UC freshman who qualifies for B (and would therefore qualify for Blue&Gold) should not be receiving B.</p>
<p>But, if the CSU will make up the tuition/fee assistance the freshman year, then Cal Grant B is worth more. A whole $1,551x4 more (the living assistance is the same amount no matter what institution you are at; all that differs is the tuition/fee assistance amount).</p>
<p>Make more sense?</p>
<p>CAL Grant A:</p>
<p>U/C’s: up to $7,788 annual tuition award x 4 = up to $31,152. </p>
<p>CAL Grant B:</p>
<p>U/C’s: up to $7,788 annual tuition award x 3 years = up to $23,364. plus expense assistance of up to $1551.x 4 years = up to $6,204. After 4 years up to $29,568. Also $9,402 via Blue and Gold Opportunity Plan = $38,970.</p>
<p>So is the difference >$7,000? Also is it possible to switch CAL Grant plans?</p>
<p>The total cost of attendance for me is $23,243</p>
<p>???</p>
<p>The COA should not be that high for Sonoma State.</p>
<p>In-state tuition and fees: $5,508
Room and board: $10,522<br>
Books and supplies: $1,732 (very high estimate!!!)
Estimated personal expenses: $2,928
Transportation expense: $1,182 </p>
<p>Tuition, room, board and books should be about $18k.</p>
<p>With your grants, student loan, and a summer job, you should have all your costs covered. Were you given any work-study? if not, also get a part-time job during the school year.</p>
<p>chaospaladin: You’re looking at very old numbers. Systemwide fees have already increased beyond that $7k figure for the UCs a handful of years ago. This year, it was $10,302. It is going up over $11k for this coming academic year. It is around $4k-ish for CSUs for the upcoming academic year.</p>
<p>Cal Grant B at the UCs is worth $6,204 more than Cal Grant A because the tuition/fee assistance will be covered by a different program (one that would give nothing if one had Cal Grant A). In theory, it should be worth more as well by the same amount at CSUs because Cal Grant B is meant for very low-income students. It is a need based grant, not a merit based. The GPA aspect is only to help limit who is able to get the grant as many qualify for it based on income. It would be silly to give more grant money to those who need it less than the very low-income students.</p>
<p>Yes, you can change your awarded Cal Grant as long as you qualified for the other one. You must submit the request before the money is first disbursed.</p>
<p>OP: I completely agree with mom2collegekids. The estimates for various expenses are very high. I have nothing to add to her suggestions as I feel they are the best options in your situation to meet your needs if you do not have B and will not be able to get the campus to cover the systemwide fees the freshman year.</p>
<p>Thank you so much for the responses!
My exact break down of COA is…</p>
<p>Fall 2011
Books and Supplies $873.00
Fees $3,087.00
Room and Board $5,433.00
Personal and Miscellaneous $1,548.00
Transportation $633.00
Term Total $11,574.00</p>
<p>Spring 2012</p>
<p>Books and Supplies $ 873.00
Fees $3,087.00
Room and Board $5,528.00
Personal and Miscellaneous $1,548.00
Transportation $633.00
Term Total $11,669.00</p>
<p>Total Cost of Attendance (2011-2012) $23,243.00</p>
<p>And the three grants are…
Federal Pell Grant: $5,550.00
State University Grant: $4,884.00
Cal Grant B: $1,551.00</p>
<p>Total grant is 11,985.00, which leaves me short 11,258. Have I exhausted my resources? I called Sonoma State today with my high school counselor and the lady at finaid said I could apply for the EOP program which would give me a maximum of roughly $1,200 in grant money per year.</p>
<p>Nearly half of your shortfall, approx $5500, comes from books, personal & miscellaneous, and transportation. Those dollar amounts seem very high. Do you live near Sonoma State? How much, realistically, do you think it will cost you to get to campus and back home for breaks? You can save a lot of money by buying used books - not from the bookstore, but from other students or online. You can also sell your used ones at the end of every semester. Finally, personal & miscellaneous is typically for laundry, snacks, dorm supplies, entertainment off campus, etc. Can you see yourself economizing in those areas?</p>
<p>Can you work this summer to save up some money as well? If you can make $2000-$2500, you’d have the chance of filling the rest of the gap with a Stafford loan that might not be too onerous for you.</p>
<p>The fact is that CSUs are under extreme financial pressure from the state of California. They’ll be allowing 10,000 less students to matriculate in 2012 than this year in order to try to save money.</p>
<p>
ACG no longer exists after the 2010-2011 school year.</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>Does CAL Grant (A or B) increase in response to UC fee increases or not?</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>Why is this so? Also why is National SMART Grant cut for 2011-2012 and onwards too? :(</p>
<p>chaospaladin:
I’m not Kelsmom ;). I’m Kender. Kelsmom is a wealth of Financial Aid information and I mostly just know about the few California programs I have direct experience with. She has far more knowledge than I do!</p>
<p>And I thought it was obvious that the amount increases with the systemwide fees based on what I’ve posted and the fact you can see the numbers yourself that they increase. The only hiccup is when there’s an increase mid-year. This happened to me last year and I received a UC Fee Grant (about a few hundred dollars) to make up the difference. Cal Grant (both A and B) is increasing to about $11k-ish (I need to start memorizing the exact number) for tuition/fee assistance to cover the increased systemwide fees for UCs next year. I will need to look up the numbers, but I believe the $4k-ish is also an increase for CSUs as well.</p>
<p>iliaccrest:
Sorry, forgot the CSUs have an EOP grant available! Not all EOP programs have it. Definitely apply for that. I’m glad to see you have Cal Grant B, though! And I must say I feel a sense of relief they’re covering the fees for you through a campus grant :). All the new cuts for this year have made me very nervous about how low-income students will be able to afford school with less funding available to help them.</p>
<p>It’s been said a number of times, but those estimates are exceptionally high. I’ve found books for $1 or less just by getting an older edition online through ebay or something similar and saved $100 or more. That’s not always going to happen, of course, but I have always saved some money. It helps when it’s a book that has had several editions and all they’ve really done is correct a typo or two and slap a new cover on. The personal expenses are absolutely ridiculous. Coming from a low-income family, I would hope you know how to budget wisely and could easily trim that down.</p>
<p>If you can get that EOP grant, plus add in a student federal loan and a part-time job (work study would be best) or summer job, then I think you’ll be in excellent shape. You have so much already covered by grants. A small loan and some self-contribution won’t hurt at all :)</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>Oh, sorry. It is just that when I quote someone with an SN starting with the letter “k” in the Financial Aid boards on CC, I instinctively type in Kelsmom. 
Anyways, does EOP in “EOP Grant” mean “Educational Opportunity Program”? Also, why is EOP Grant only available for CSUs and not UCs?</p>
<p>EDIT: Also it is too late for me to edit my post to fix your name. :(</p>
<p>chaospaladin:
No worries :). I usually copy/paste names just to avoid typos as much as possible myself.</p>
<p>And the EOP Grant is something I recently learned about from what someone shared saying that there is one available at the CSUs. I’ve never heard of it before. Yes, EOP stands Educational Opportunity Program. At the UCs, it varies what benefits this offers the student (at UCSC, I think one of the few benefits is 4 years of guaranteed on campus housing). I’d never heard of a grant for EOP until someone in another thread said the CSUs had it. Closest I had known about was a book waiver issued at one of my old CCCs to EOP members.</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>[Services</a> Page - Sonoma State University EOP](<a href=“http://www.sonoma.edu/eop/services.shtml]Services”>http://www.sonoma.edu/eop/services.shtml)</p>
<p>My impression of it is that it’s a “first come, first served until it’s all gone” type of grant. I don’t anything else beyond that.</p>
<p>I live in southern california, so I would have to dorm at Sonoma. And I’m seeing what you mean by the gross overestimations. So in reality the only things that i have paying to Sonoma would be Fees and Room and Board?</p>
<p>Well, you’d still need a way to get to campus. Is there an Amtrak bus that goes between your house and Rohnert Park? You can definitely save on books, probably spending less than half of the listed amount. And if you never eat off campus and limit your spending on entertainment, you could probably get by with about $500/semester of the personal & misc amount. There’s no room in the budget for a car, fun trips to Tahoe or SF, or dinners out on weekends. Can you live with that?</p>
<p>Here’s from your COA post:</p>
<p>
</p>